


Coward

by allrealelements



Category: Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Camus Archetype Feels, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mentions of one-sided Reinhardt/Ishtar and Ishtar/Julius, Not Super Gory Though, Plus Some Blood, spoilers for Thracia 776
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 09:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13901544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allrealelements/pseuds/allrealelements
Summary: My version of some of the events depicted in Thracia 776 Chapter 22: Across the River





	Coward

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [when your sibling eats your food and you have to “deal with the problem” before mom comes home](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/362025) by Dt75Art. 
  * Inspired by [Siblings of the Storm](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/362028) by Kami_Elma. 



“The next time we meet on the battlefield, it will be as enemies. Understand?”

Olwen stared at her brother in shock, clutching the Blessed Sword in trembling hands. The blade had been a gift to Reinhardt from Lady Ishtar herself, and he had treasured it for as long as she could remember. For him to give it up, Lady Ishtar was either dead or beyond his reach. She suspected the latter. Olwen had long hoped that her brother would notice another woman besides Lady Ishtar, as she was betrothed to Prince Julius. But Reinhardt only ever had eyes for Thrud’s heir.

Another thought sprang unbidden to her mind. The Blessed Blade was not only Reinhardt’s treasure, but a blade which was extremely effective against mounted mages like Olwen...and Reinhardt. He had handed the key to his defeat directly to her. Realizing what that meant, Olwen blinked back tears.

She nodded stiffly, and Reinhardt turned his horse sharply and cantered off.

“Brother…”

-

The battlefield raged around the two Mage Knights as they circled one another, despair in one’s eyes and cold resolve in the other.

Olwen narrowed her eyes and began the incantation for Dire Thunder. Swiftly, Reinhardt dodged her first strike, but the second caught him square in the chest. He let out a soft hiss and blood trickled from his mouth as he stared at his sister, eyes dull and hopeless.

“Go on then,” he rasped, clutching his torn robes. “Do it!”

A sob ripped through Olwen’s throat and she readied her stance, leveling the Blessed Sword at Reinhardt. It glowed a faint blue, and the sparks that remained in the air after using Dire Thunder gave the blade an eerie and sinister appearance.

I’m sorry, she thought, and charged. The blade made a _slorp_ sound as it drove into Reinhardt’s body, straight into the wound from Dire Thunder. Reinhardt coughed, and blood spattered onto his white cravat, standing out obscenely.

Olwen yanked the sword free, and Reinhardt tumbled gracelessly from the saddle. She wiped the blade clean, and looked down dispassionately at her fallen brother.

He let me kill him, the coward, she thought bitterly. No other soldier in Prince Leaf’s humble army could have defeated him, not without the Blessed Sword. How cowardly, to use his own sister as a suicide weapon.

Coward, coward, coward!

Around her, the sounds of battle diminished, and she knew the battle was won. Her brother lay in a graceless heap on the ground, a pool of blood soaked through into the ground beneath his still body. Olwen glanced at the brother she had once admired, the most respected and talented Mage Knight in Freeji and perhaps all of Grannvale. Yet at the peak of his career, he had thrown his life away for a woman who did not love him, and a prince who murdered children. Now he was just another casualty of the battle across the river; another body splattered with blood and dirt.

I will never be like him, she thought, furious, and she mounted her horse once more to return to Prince Leaf’s army and Fred.

She had a new family now.

**Author's Note:**

> Still dying over Reinhardt and Olwen. Share in my misery! 
> 
> Inspired by an art piece and a version of the story more from Reinhardt's perspective, so I wanted to add Olwen's perspective to the mix.
> 
> Also if I got any of the localized names wrong, I'm sorry. I keep mixing them up.


End file.
